


a candle in water

by TheMocha



Category: Dead by Daylight (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Gen, Minor Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-31
Updated: 2019-01-31
Packaged: 2019-10-19 16:55:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17605232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMocha/pseuds/TheMocha
Summary: And the world fell silent.





	a candle in water

Mass panic was a dangerous thing. It invoked others to do things that otherwise they wouldn’t of dreamed of. It meant screaming, crying, injury or perhaps even death. It could tear apart friendships, families, governments and lovers, shaken by fear and anger, the simple will to survive ruled above all reasoning and calm.

It needed this. This pure panic, raw emotion. It need to grow, to sustain itself. The people of the world were growing weary, staying in after dark, avoiding the forest, never alone. Never vulnerable. That alone was not enough. No. It would eat tonight, and it would have a feast. 

A force stirred. Swirling and chaotic, calm, calculated and oh so hungry. It’s muscles stretched and wove, the awful sounds cracking chitin and fleshy claws ringing across the valley. As the sun went down it rose. Fog rolled in en masse, carefully searching, dipping in and out of porches and peering into shuttered windows.

It was 10:00pm. A cool night, by most standards. A village come town, gently nestled in a thickly forested valley. Day by day, the fog had steadily gotten worse, burned away by morning and yet still coming back every single night. Persistent. Most children were asleep, tucked in with a kiss on their heads and a soft whispered goodnight, making giggled promises to see them again in the morning. The older ones stayed up, talking to people across the world through rapid typing, laughs and jokes. Making promises to play that game, watch that show, read that book. The adults smiled at each other, poured another drink, congratulated themselves on a job well done, joked about salary and the kids over the phone and in person. 

It was 11:00pm. It was cold. The older ones were still awake, though complaining about plot endings, the economy and politics. They brushed away the sleep in their eyes every so often, wrapped themselves with layers upon layers of blankets, watched the stars and crescent moon from their windows, bathed gently in blue light. The adults were curled into each other, nursing a hot drink in front of a series they couldn’t watch with the kids, smiling at the other. The children were asleep, shuffling and shifting occasionally, having dreams of people and places.

It was 12:00am. The older ones were nodding off, phones and computers out of hands, on charge. A select few were still awake, furiously typing. The adults put their mugs and glasses away, vowing jokingly to clean them tomorrow. Fog leaked in from the cracks of windows and doors, swirling but otherwise not making a sound. Warm lights were switched off one by one as the inhabitants fell into slumber. 

1:00am. The children were gone.

1:25am. A cry as loud as lungs would allow broke the silence. Screaming and weeping, a distraught mother ran out into the street, banging furiously on her neighbor’s doors, screeching at the hard glossy wood Where is my baby?! Where is she?!

There was no response.

No stars, no moon. Flickers of gold streaked across the night sky. A low, ominous groaning rang through the trees. The mother screamed and ran, trying to get back to a house that she could not see, ensnared in a thick curtain of mist. She started heaving in the middle of the street, tarmac cutting gouges into her knees, hands over eyes, kneeling down. Perhaps it would’ve been kinder if she had time to draw breath.

It was silent. And it ate.

**Author's Note:**

> written for the "The Stars Disappeared" prompt from the dbd rp discord server!!


End file.
